Rally Design aftermarket brake calipers - any opinions?

[Jonny69]

Anyone used these calipers before and have any opinions?


Back story: I first built the struts on my Anglia waaaay back in the late 90s when I had youth, patience, help and spare time on my hands. I have none of those now, but I do now have very old brake calipers that could do with new pistons and seals. I also need new discs and pads. I'm thinking: instead of buying the discs, pistons and seals separately, for just a little bit more I can actually get a pair of brand new assembled calipers and discs from Rally Design. I won't have to worry about the faff of getting the old pistons out or back in or all the mess and filth involved. It'll pretty much just be a straight swap which I might actually be able to find the time to do. Put the old calipers on eBay and I'll probably break even anyway. Or are these monkey metal to be avoided at all costs?

www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=21724

[grizz]

Straight copy and paste from Rezing Rockit thread, page 88 onward.

Nope, not driven, but fitted.

Day job is really getting in the way right now.

And of course shorter days mean that by 6.00pm time is up.

Yesterday was a long, busy online day, loads more to do this week.

I have about 10-15 hrs of online training to do, 14 modules, each with a 10 question test at the end, and pass mark 90%

Still, Mickey knocked at about 4.30pm as I never even heard the couriers deliver despite being here.

Happy to say……..

We have parts.



And some of these.



Of course shiny and new is lovely.

But Red is better.

More later.

So what does £60.00 buy you? Or $83.00 plus shipping.

One of these, without hardware or pads, or paint.



Paint?

Oh, and masking up and heating.

Heating helps the paint dry faster and more succesfully.



Result.



And then ready for assembly and fitting.



Hopefully I will figure it out when it comes to the assembly and fitting.

Any advice and warnings on the reassembly appreciated as always.

I do not have nickwheeler or kevins and Paul Y on site to guide and bollock me when working.

Happy with how they came out though, at £180.00 or $250.00 they best be good once fitted.

Next job was to do a second brake hose mounting plate.

Where do you buy something that is not for sale out there?

Grab some plate, copy it, cut to shape with tin snips, drill holes, file nd tidy, fold tabs etc.





Then time for a break, made some lunch, and then headed down to

The local motor spares shop, got the 500mm brake hose identified, and ordered one for tomorrow. Followed by the industrial estate, bought some shoulder bolts to replace the ones I hd bought from Rally Design as the ones they sent were the wrong thread pitch.
Followed by a visit to Aghabridge for some brake line fittings, some of which, along with the shoulder bolts, Nick will be trimming back on his lathe at home before we can fit them.

Back at home we refitted the drivers side calliper and then the pads, plates, pins, springs and R-clips followed by brake pipes and hose.

Pretty chuffed at this point.



And once turned aside the refit went quick.



One more coffee, a discussion about wheel adapters, wheel nuts, studs and lowering and then nickwheeler left for his next appointment which he can tell about.

A great day, thanks to having help and brains on site.

[Dez]

My experience with rally design is if they manage to send you the right parts then great, if they don’t you may as well just Chuck the money in the bin as they’ll never correct their mistake and will lie to try to get out of giving you a refund or replacement.
I thought it was just my curse word luck but I’ve heard the same from way too many people for it just to be isolated cases.
So yeah, be careful ordering from them.

[grizz]

Dec 2, 2021 23:03:09 GMT Dez said:

My experience with rally design is if they manage to send you the right parts then great, if they don’t you may as well just Chuck the money in the bin as they’ll never correct their mistake and will lie to try to get out of giving you a refund or replacement.
I thought it was just my curse word luck but I’ve heard the same from way too many people for it just to be isolated cases.
So yeah, be careful ordering from them.

Interestingly I have a pair of collared bolts, cost around £20.00 that were wrong thread from them innthe same deal.

Have not tried to return them or get a credit but this is a good warning, thanks Dez

[16grit]

Dec 2, 2021 17:21:12 GMT Jonny69 said:

Anyone used these calipers before and have any opinions?


Back story: I first built the struts on my Anglia waaaay back in the late 90s when I had youth, patience, help and spare time on my hands. I have none of those now, but I do now have very old brake calipers that could do with new pistons and seals. I also need new discs and pads. I'm thinking: instead of buying the discs, pistons and seals separately, for just a little bit more I can actually get a pair of brand new assembled calipers and discs from Rally Design. I won't have to worry about the faff of getting the old pistons out or back in or all the mess and filth involved. It'll pretty much just be a straight swap which I might actually be able to find the time to do. Put the old calipers on eBay and I'll probably break even anyway. Or are these monkey metal to be avoided at all costs?

www.rallydesign.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=21724

Not thinking of a Princess 4 pot or Sierra / RS turbo caliper 'upgrade' - ?

[bricol]

First place I look or call is Brakes International in Rochdale - after discovering the local big name parts stores got their recon calipers from them.

You do need an exchange unit though.

[vitesseefi]

Those look like Girling type 16 /M16 copies.

So a word of warning. In the Triumph world quite a few people, myself included have been tempted by new calipers at barely more than the cost of parts to rebuild your old ones.

Trouble is, many of us found that we couldn’t get a decent pedal. As if there was air in the system. It isn’t air though, it’s the seals pulling the pistons back too far. You can correct the problem for a while by removing the pads, pumping the pistons out a little and then easing them back just enough to get the pads back in. Now you have a pedal…. But it doesn’t last as the calipers appear incapable of self adjusting properly as the pads wear.

I tried various different seals from various sources, including used genuine ones from genuine calipers, which actually worked the best, though still not well enough to save them from the bin. I rebuilt my originals which immediately worked properly. My best guess is that the shape of the seal groove is wrong. Certainly it’s different from the originals.

Mine didn’t come from Rally Design, but the retailer doesn’t appear to matter, they all come from the same factory.

Hope your luck is better than mine, but my advice would be to rebuild your originals with stainless pistons and seal kit. Got mine from Bigg Red

Nick

[Jonny69]

Hmm, not sounding too promising then. Glad I asked first!

Dez, cheers for the warning. I haven’t actually bought anything from Rally Design mail order so that’s good to know.

Nick, that’s exactly the sort of info I needed to know in advance. Thanks for that. Yes, they’re M16 calipers. Maybe not worth the risk then.